5 ms·

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife to donate $120M to needy Bay Area schools

63 points by fredkelly 12y ago

contingencies 12y ago
Needy ... Bay Area ... hahaha!
- NickSharp 12y ago
  The Bay Area is bigger than the HN bubble. There are some desperately poor school districts.
  - easytiger 12y ago
    The federal government spent $683.7 billion in a year on defense alone. maybe they could spare a few million for the children. Relying on private finance to help schools simply will make matters worse from a big picture in a similar way to how Africa became addicted to overseas aid
    - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
      Sigh. Did you spend one nanosecond of time doing any research before firing off your oh so pious comment about sparing a few pennies to save the children? A very quick google found me ed.gov, which is the US Department of Education. Here is an exact quote [1]: ED currently administers a budget of $67.3 billion in discretionary appropriations (including discretionary Pell Grant funding) and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve nearly 16,900 school districts and approximately 50 million students attending more than 98,000 public schools and 28,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 13 million postsecondary students. So it turns out that the federal government is already spending more than "a few million for the children". And in case you slept thru civics 101 class, the very next paragraph from the ed.gov website points out: That said, it is important to point out that education in America is primarily a State and local responsibility, and ED's budget is only a small part of both total national education spending ... [1] http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html
      - dang 12y ago
        Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News.
        PhantomGremlin 12y ago
        Sorry. I did read your admonition a few days ago, and I should have apologized then. I will be much more careful with the tone of my postings going forward.
      - easytiger 12y ago
        And yet, there are impovrished schools. How is that possible?
        PhantomGremlin 12y ago
        It's easy. The money, whether it is for defense or for education is, by and large, squandered. Here's an example of excessive education spending in Oregon [1]: A guy was a college professor in Oregon for 16 years His final salary was $62,000 per year He currently gets a pension of $214,000 per year How is that possible? Simple. He was, among other things guaranteed an 8% a year return in his retirement account. All courtesy of the Oregon taxpayer. This kind of thing is endemic to public spending, whether it is in Oregon or in California or at the Federal level. Education or Defense, it doesn't matter. The billions simply disappear. That's why, fundamentally, "a few million for the children" won't make a difference. At all. [1] http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/oregon_losing_money_match_game.html http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/oregon_...
        easytiger 12y ago
        This is my point. That line was in a satirical tone. I see the american education system doesn't cover that. Throwing money at a few schools will just mask the fundamental underlying organisational, logistical and philosophical failings of the system.
      - pessimizer 12y ago
jinushaun 12y ago
Hopefully with better success than NJ, but I doubt it. #california
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ejfox 12y ago
I always felt a donation to Newark with Oakland in your backyard was bizarre. CMD-F for Oakland in this article... nothing.
- gkoberger 12y ago
  He grew up closer to Newark.
hkmurakami 12y ago
I personally know teachers in the SJ school district who are truly passionate about helping their students succeed, but alas, the way in which these funds will be used I imagine will largely be determined by forces outside of the control the teachers of the frontlines. While I, like many others here, do not expect these funds to make a noticeable difference in the under-served schools in the Bay Area, I do sincerely hope that our expectations are proven wrong.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
aidenn0 12y ago
That's one solution to Prop 13; I can't help but think that the $120M would be better spent trying to repeal that example of what's wrong with direct democracy.
fdsary 12y ago
From a Scandinavian point of view this seems like such a detour. Why wait for billionaires to be so kind of fund schools when you could tax wealth and fund public and universal education? Why do the American people chose this way time after time?
- samstave 12y ago
  Brainwashing. The US is an illusion.
- waterlesscloud 12y ago
  The US has public and universal education.
  - monochr 12y ago
    Just at a standard which would make many former soviet states cringe.
- VeejayRampay 12y ago
  (Fellow European here) Because: - Obama is a socialist - Trickle-down economics is the only thing that works - Taxing wealth is hating the rich (so basically being a nazi) - Taxing the wealthy doesn't give them a tax cut like donating money to schools or charities does - Because taxing job creators just encourages the moochers and takers (Rinse and repeat ad nauseam until it becomes a way of life)
  - Ihmahr 12y ago
    I think people didn't get that your comment was a caricature / ironic.
    - VeejayRampay 12y ago
      Or maybe they did get it, found it heavy-handed and crass and chose to downvote it. I didn't exactly go for subtlety to be quite frank. Doesn't matter anyway, that's why Hacker News has +/- buttons to begin with :)
L_Rahman 12y ago
In light of this announcement, it's worth reading the New Yorker's fantastic piece exploring how Zuckerberg's previous $100 million investment into the Newark public school fared. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_russakoff?currentPage=all http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_...
- nostromo 12y ago
  Amazing that the money is all gone (or committed) with a large chunk being spent on consultants billing "a thousand dollars a day." It gives me more appreciation for Bill Gate's approach, which seems much more cautious, albeit slow.
  - monochr 12y ago
    >Amazing that the money is all gone Not really. This is what American Capitalism is known as around the world. In oil and gas you know to sell your shares and not work for a firm that gets an American CEO because everything the article talks about happens without fail within the first three years. The short and simple of it is that Americans businesses just plain have no morals and everyone expects to be screwed over by them. >It gives me more appreciation for Bill Gate's approach Is just as bad as everyone else. Remember that amazing mosquito zapper he demoed 4 years ago[1]? Turns out the reason you haven't heard anything more about it is because he hired his patent troll friends over at Intellectual Ventures to do it for him [2]. Since they own the patents for it no one else can develop it and they aren't cross licensing, kind of obvious for a patent troll. Since they are a patent troll they aren't doing anything but holding the intellectual property and not producing any units. So all in all, it's just another green washing bullshit fest as are most of his other investments in the region. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwyMuwNYKvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwyMuwNYKvI [2] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123680870885500701?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123680870885500701.html http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123680870885500701?mg=...
    - throwaway7767 12y ago
marincounty 12y ago
This is about as wateful as spending 3 billion on SnapChat! I haven't read the stipulations, if any, but feel most of it will be fretted away on administration. I never thought Mark was a brilliant person, and still believe he stole every original thought since he stole Facebook from the spoiled boys. Only in America? Yes--at a certain point--the rich do not know how to spend money. I'm for a government that taxes their money. If they don't like it move to Ireland. Yes--I know they moved, but when I'm president--when Ireland is attacked they would not be able to look to their home country for help. Sorry--but you wanted the divorce Deare.
InclinedPlane 12y ago
The problem with public schooling in the US isn't funding, inflation adjusted per-student funding has more than doubled since the 1970s but educational outcomes haven't budged. Pouring more money into the top of the funnel is the same thing we've been doing for decades, and it hasn't worked. If you want to make a big impact in education you either have to spend money closer to the students or you have to build something disruptive.
spacemanmatt 12y ago
And now they have enough money? Until they run out and the next angel drops a wad of cash on them? That sounds like an absolutely stellar way to fund public education.
Jugurtha 12y ago
I wasn't aware his wife was wealthy.
brudgers 12y ago
This is a lot of money when it's yours. Karma points to the Zuckerbergs. In terms of running a school district, it would be nice. Sprinkled across a region...well it's rounding error. If the total cost (compensation, benefits, administration, facilities and transportation) per year of a teacher in the classroom is assumed to be $100,000/year [probably very very low for the Bay Area], then the total package represents 1200 teacher years - or 120 teachers for 10 years. And that's like one teacher per school district. If it were used to bring new facilities online - it's about new high school with furnishings and equipment and no new staff. However, the money isn't going to fund new schools or keep teachers in classrooms (or get children to and from school, or provide Head Start, or after school programs for needy children whose parents and guardians work, or any of the really pressing needs of individual children and families in poverty). Nevermind, thinking about how the housing situation effects their lives - to get a sense of scale, maybe that's how to think about the numbers...moving a few hundred of the region's homeless families off the street and into owner occupied housing? No. the money isn't going for anything that long term. It's going to 'technology' - a category where five years of use is a really long time = where staff salaries are a multiple of what teachers earn...and somebody has to select, install and maintain all those gadgets. It's a consultant gravy train. The person who offers money in exchange for people doing what whatever they say is the served, not the serving. And with private individuals, unlike a government, the serving have no say whatsoever. This isn't a partnership. Zuckerberg isn't asking the districts what they need and seeing which of their needs he can meet. He's come up with a solution without the hard work of prioritizing the possibilities. That's unfortunate. While I honestly admire the generosity, winning access to Exeter Academy and Harvard in the fast swimming semen sweepstakes doesn't make a person an expert in education at the scale of a school district, let alone a region. Even if one worked really really hard building a technology company.
chasef 12y ago
Throwing money at an already failing system isn't going to do anything. Look at how his donation to New Jersey played out. He's just putting money into a dying system. The entire educational system needs to be reworked completely. And the changes we need won't be made by politicians, we need hackers to do it.

63 points by fredkelly 12y ago

contingencies 12y ago

Needy ... Bay Area ... hahaha!

NickSharp 12y ago
The Bay Area is bigger than the HN bubble. There are some desperately poor school districts.
- easytiger 12y ago
  The federal government spent $683.7 billion in a year on defense alone. maybe they could spare a few million for the children. Relying on private finance to help schools simply will make matters worse from a big picture in a similar way to how Africa became addicted to overseas aid
  - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
    Sigh. Did you spend one nanosecond of time doing any research before firing off your oh so pious comment about sparing a few pennies to save the children? A very quick google found me ed.gov, which is the US Department of Education. Here is an exact quote [1]: ED currently administers a budget of $67.3 billion in discretionary appropriations (including discretionary Pell Grant funding) and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve nearly 16,900 school districts and approximately 50 million students attending more than 98,000 public schools and 28,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 13 million postsecondary students. So it turns out that the federal government is already spending more than "a few million for the children". And in case you slept thru civics 101 class, the very next paragraph from the ed.gov website points out: That said, it is important to point out that education in America is primarily a State and local responsibility, and ED's budget is only a small part of both total national education spending ... [1] http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html
    - dang 12y ago
      Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News.
      - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
        Sorry. I did read your admonition a few days ago, and I should have apologized then. I will be much more careful with the tone of my postings going forward.
    - easytiger 12y ago
      And yet, there are impovrished schools. How is that possible?
      - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
        It's easy. The money, whether it is for defense or for education is, by and large, squandered. Here's an example of excessive education spending in Oregon [1]: A guy was a college professor in Oregon for 16 years His final salary was $62,000 per year He currently gets a pension of $214,000 per year How is that possible? Simple. He was, among other things guaranteed an 8% a year return in his retirement account. All courtesy of the Oregon taxpayer. This kind of thing is endemic to public spending, whether it is in Oregon or in California or at the Federal level. Education or Defense, it doesn't matter. The billions simply disappear. That's why, fundamentally, "a few million for the children" won't make a difference. At all. [1] http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/oregon_losing_money_match_game.html http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/oregon_...
        easytiger 12y ago
        This is my point. That line was in a satirical tone. I see the american education system doesn't cover that. Throwing money at a few schools will just mask the fundamental underlying organisational, logistical and philosophical failings of the system.
    - pessimizer 12y ago

jinushaun 12y ago

Hopefully with better success than NJ, but I doubt it. #california

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

ejfox 12y ago

I always felt a donation to Newark with Oakland in your backyard was bizarre. CMD-F for Oakland in this article... nothing.

gkoberger 12y ago
He grew up closer to Newark.

hkmurakami 12y ago

I personally know teachers in the SJ school district who are truly passionate about helping their students succeed, but alas, the way in which these funds will be used I imagine will largely be determined by forces outside of the control the teachers of the frontlines. While I, like many others here, do not expect these funds to make a noticeable difference in the under-served schools in the Bay Area, I do sincerely hope that our expectations are proven wrong.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

aidenn0 12y ago

That's one solution to Prop 13; I can't help but think that the $120M would be better spent trying to repeal that example of what's wrong with direct democracy.

fdsary 12y ago

From a Scandinavian point of view this seems like such a detour. Why wait for billionaires to be so kind of fund schools when you could tax wealth and fund public and universal education? Why do the American people chose this way time after time?

samstave 12y ago
Brainwashing. The US is an illusion.
waterlesscloud 12y ago
The US has public and universal education.
- monochr 12y ago
  Just at a standard which would make many former soviet states cringe.
VeejayRampay 12y ago
(Fellow European here) Because: - Obama is a socialist - Trickle-down economics is the only thing that works - Taxing wealth is hating the rich (so basically being a nazi) - Taxing the wealthy doesn't give them a tax cut like donating money to schools or charities does - Because taxing job creators just encourages the moochers and takers (Rinse and repeat ad nauseam until it becomes a way of life)
- Ihmahr 12y ago
  I think people didn't get that your comment was a caricature / ironic.
  - VeejayRampay 12y ago
    Or maybe they did get it, found it heavy-handed and crass and chose to downvote it. I didn't exactly go for subtlety to be quite frank. Doesn't matter anyway, that's why Hacker News has +/- buttons to begin with :)

L_Rahman 12y ago

In light of this announcement, it's worth reading the New Yorker's fantastic piece exploring how Zuckerberg's previous $100 million investment into the Newark public school fared. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_russakoff?currentPage=all http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_...

nostromo 12y ago
Amazing that the money is all gone (or committed) with a large chunk being spent on consultants billing "a thousand dollars a day." It gives me more appreciation for Bill Gate's approach, which seems much more cautious, albeit slow.
- monochr 12y ago
  >Amazing that the money is all gone Not really. This is what American Capitalism is known as around the world. In oil and gas you know to sell your shares and not work for a firm that gets an American CEO because everything the article talks about happens without fail within the first three years. The short and simple of it is that Americans businesses just plain have no morals and everyone expects to be screwed over by them. >It gives me more appreciation for Bill Gate's approach Is just as bad as everyone else. Remember that amazing mosquito zapper he demoed 4 years ago[1]? Turns out the reason you haven't heard anything more about it is because he hired his patent troll friends over at Intellectual Ventures to do it for him [2]. Since they own the patents for it no one else can develop it and they aren't cross licensing, kind of obvious for a patent troll. Since they are a patent troll they aren't doing anything but holding the intellectual property and not producing any units. So all in all, it's just another green washing bullshit fest as are most of his other investments in the region. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwyMuwNYKvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwyMuwNYKvI [2] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123680870885500701?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123680870885500701.html http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123680870885500701?mg=...
  - throwaway7767 12y ago

marincounty 12y ago

This is about as wateful as spending 3 billion on SnapChat! I haven't read the stipulations, if any, but feel most of it will be fretted away on administration. I never thought Mark was a brilliant person, and still believe he stole every original thought since he stole Facebook from the spoiled boys. Only in America? Yes--at a certain point--the rich do not know how to spend money. I'm for a government that taxes their money. If they don't like it move to Ireland. Yes--I know they moved, but when I'm president--when Ireland is attacked they would not be able to look to their home country for help. Sorry--but you wanted the divorce Deare.

InclinedPlane 12y ago

The problem with public schooling in the US isn't funding, inflation adjusted per-student funding has more than doubled since the 1970s but educational outcomes haven't budged. Pouring more money into the top of the funnel is the same thing we've been doing for decades, and it hasn't worked. If you want to make a big impact in education you either have to spend money closer to the students or you have to build something disruptive.

spacemanmatt 12y ago

And now they have enough money? Until they run out and the next angel drops a wad of cash on them? That sounds like an absolutely stellar way to fund public education.

Jugurtha 12y ago

I wasn't aware his wife was wealthy.

brudgers 12y ago

This is a lot of money when it's yours. Karma points to the Zuckerbergs. In terms of running a school district, it would be nice. Sprinkled across a region...well it's rounding error. If the total cost (compensation, benefits, administration, facilities and transportation) per year of a teacher in the classroom is assumed to be $100,000/year [probably very very low for the Bay Area], then the total package represents 1200 teacher years - or 120 teachers for 10 years. And that's like one teacher per school district. If it were used to bring new facilities online - it's about new high school with furnishings and equipment and no new staff. However, the money isn't going to fund new schools or keep teachers in classrooms (or get children to and from school, or provide Head Start, or after school programs for needy children whose parents and guardians work, or any of the really pressing needs of individual children and families in poverty). Nevermind, thinking about how the housing situation effects their lives - to get a sense of scale, maybe that's how to think about the numbers...moving a few hundred of the region's homeless families off the street and into owner occupied housing? No. the money isn't going for anything that long term. It's going to 'technology' - a category where five years of use is a really long time = where staff salaries are a multiple of what teachers earn...and somebody has to select, install and maintain all those gadgets. It's a consultant gravy train. The person who offers money in exchange for people doing what whatever they say is the served, not the serving. And with private individuals, unlike a government, the serving have no say whatsoever. This isn't a partnership. Zuckerberg isn't asking the districts what they need and seeing which of their needs he can meet. He's come up with a solution without the hard work of prioritizing the possibilities. That's unfortunate. While I honestly admire the generosity, winning access to Exeter Academy and Harvard in the fast swimming semen sweepstakes doesn't make a person an expert in education at the scale of a school district, let alone a region. Even if one worked really really hard building a technology company.

chasef 12y ago

Throwing money at an already failing system isn't going to do anything. Look at how his donation to New Jersey played out. He's just putting money into a dying system. The entire educational system needs to be reworked completely. And the changes we need won't be made by politicians, we need hackers to do it.